Lenders won't even meet with us because we're newbies

A friend and I are looking to do some investing in single family homes - involves rehab or new construction.  

I've spoken to a few bank lenders, once they know we have little to no experience, it ends there.  They're not interested to even consider lending, or in most cases even meeting.   One wanted to refer us to "hard lenders" and basically said come back when you have a few projects under your belt.

What should we do?